Development and in vitro characterization of paclitaxel and docetaxel loaded into hydrophobically derivatized hyperbranched polyglycerols

Confocal fluorescence imaging of KU7 cells illustrating complete uptake of HPG-C8/10-MePEG13-TMRCA nanoparticles after a 1 h exposure. Panel A shows untreated KU7 cells with a DAPI stain, which allows visualization of the nuclei in blue. The image is an overlay of a direct contrast signal (which shows the contour of the cell) and the fluorescence signals, which shows the nucleus (blue), and the absence of any other (red) fluorescence. Panel B shows KU7 cells that have been incubated for 1 h with HPG-C8/10-MePEG13-TMRCA nanoparticles. Panel C shows a z-stack of the same cell population from panel B, demonstrating that the red fluorescent nanoparticles are present throughout the cytoplasm, rather than being only adhered to or present in cell membrane.